


Where To?

by badly_knitted



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Community: fic_promptly, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 15:02:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3982489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badly_knitted/pseuds/badly_knitted
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clara’s back aboard the TARDIS, so where shall they go next?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where To?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for mtxref_fic’s prompt ‘Doctor Who, any doctor+any companion, the carpets on Jupiter are full of insects’ at fic_promptly.

Clara, just back from taking a bunch of pupils on a school trip, had been full of horrific tales of the disastrous trip. She’d been telling the Doctor all about it for the last hour and a half.

“And to cap it all, the beds were infested with bed bugs! I’ve been back a week and I’m still itching!” 

“The carpets on Jupiter are full of insects,” the Doctor replied excitedly. “Well, when I say on Jupiter, I don’t mean on the planet itself. It’s a gas giant, can’t build on one of those, nothing solid to build on. But in the year one hundred billion and seventy three, there are orbiting habitats. Very ingenious, held in place by anti-gravity units powered by the atmosphere itself, completely self-sufficient.

And the carpets… Amazing! They cover floors, walls, ceilings, and they’re alive; a living, breathing life-support system, absorbing carbon dioxide and pollutants, manufacturing oxygen and fresh water. The insects do all the work, except they’re not really insects, they’re more like microscopic robots, a few steps up from nanogenes. Self-replicating. If one gets compromised it’s reabsorbed and a new one’s built to replace it.”

He paced around the console, hands waving enthusiastically, oblivious to Clara’s look of disgust.

“Everyone on the habitats goes around naked; they’re completely climate-controlled, temperature at a constant eighty degrees. No need for showers either, when you lie down to sleep the robot insects swarm over you, eating dirt and dead skin, so by the time you wake up you’re clean as a whistle! Remarkable, very efficient, cuts right down on water consumption. You know, we should go there! You’d love it!” He looked over at Clara, finally noticing her expression. “You’d hate it, wouldn’t you?”

“With a fiery passion, so let’s not, okay?”

“Fine with me!”

“Good. Fine.”

“So, where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. Surprise me. Just, no bugs, robotic or otherwise. I’ve had my fill of bugs. If I never see another one, it’ll be too soon. Somewhere completely bug-free would be nice.”

“Ooh, I know, how about Sisiplax? Lovely place. The people walk backwards everywhere, they bump into each other a lot so they have enormous bottoms. You’d fit right in. Or Murgalop. The ground wobbles like jelly so it’s really hard to stay on your feet. Everyone crawls around…”

Clara smiled. She’d missed this and she’d missed him, nonsensical rambling and all. It was good to be home.

 

The End


End file.
